The ABA’s unofficial pre-screening role in judicial selection waxed and waned with presidential politics.

Evidence

A final unofficial participant in the process of selecting federal judges has been the American Bar Association (ABA) through its Standing y. Beginning in the Eisenhower administration (1953-1961), presidents submitted the names of prospective judges to the committee, which investigated their professional qualifications. om “exceptionally well qualified” to “not qualified,” and nominees who received a “not qualified” rating were rarely confirmed. During the Reagan administration, the ABA committee came under fire from political conservatives, who charged that liberals on the ABA committee were allowing their political disagreements with the Reagan administration to color their evaluations of its judicial nominees. The ABA further earned the ire of conservatives when its House of Delegates voted to endorse reproductive choice, thereby taking sides in the public debate over abortion. In response, Senate Judiciary Committee chair Orrin Hatch in 1997 decided to exclude the ABA from a privileged position in testifying on judicial nominees. In 2001, the Bush administration notified the ABA that the president would no longer submit a list of potential nominees for the organization’s rating of their professional qualifications, but with the inauguration of President Obama, the ABA resumed its role of pre-screening nominees for the federal courts. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 681

Categorization

• XREF: Directly extends the chapter 31 claim about shared president/Senate appointment power by adding the informal ABA gatekeeper layer. — connects to: Presidents differ sharply in how much ideological screening they apply to judicial nominees — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 493; The ABA lacks direct authority yet wields influence over the legal profession. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 670; The ABA lacks regulatory power yet wields influence as the profession’s recognized voice. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1031 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• The ABA lacks regulatory power yet wields influence as the profession’s recognized voice. #qualifies (0.85) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1031